Baseball: A-Rod wins third AL MVP Award

NEW YORK – Alex Rodriguez is headed back to the New York Yankees as the American League`s Most Valuable Player.A-Rod won his third AL MVP award Monday, easily defeating Detroit`s Magglio Ordonez after compiling an astounding season at the plate. Rodriguez received 26 first-place votes and 382 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers` Association of America, while Ordonez had two firsts and 258 points.Rodriguez won his first MVP in 2003, his last season with the Texas Rangers. He also won with the Yankees in 2005 – but he`s never played in a World Series.“There`s definitely a huge hole in the resume,” he said. “It`s my third MVP and I`m here to say that I would trade all three for one world championship. I wouldn`t think twice about it.”He`s spoken with quarterback John Elway about the need for a title to validate a career.“Definitely the exclamation point in his career was the two championships at the end, and I have tremendous faith that I will be a world champion,” Rodriguez said. “What better place to do it than in New York?”Rodriguez started the year with 14 homers in his first 18 games, hit .314 for the season and led the majors with 54 homers, 156 RBIs and 143 runs. He was the first player since New York`s Roger Maris in 1961 to lead the majors in homers, RBIs and runs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.An 11-time All-Star, Rodriguez became the ninth player to win the MVP three or more times. Barry Bonds holds the record with seven – all in the NL – and Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial and Mike Schmidt won three each.Los Angeles Angels slugger Vladimir Guerrero finished third in the voting with 203 points, and Boston`s David Ortiz (177) was fourth.The only two first-place votes that didn`t go to Rodriguez were from Tom Gage of The Detroit News and Jim Hawkins of The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Mich.“Magglio is a friend and had an unbelievable season,” Rodriguez said. “I`ve been on that side of the fence many, many times.”He remembered back to his first full season in the majors with Seattle, when he finished three points behind Juan Gonzalez of Texas in MVP balloting.“I was almost in tears in 1996 when I didn`t win the award, and it was very painful,” Rodriguez said. “At the time, I was 20 years old and thought I would never get another chance to win it.”Rodriguez didn`t want to talk about his negotiations with the Yankees that are leading toward a $275 million, 10-year contract. He said he would be able to speak about it next week.“There is a finish line in sight,” Rodriguez said, adding he would talk about the contract “when the time is right.”He didn`t want to say why he decided last month to opt out of his contract. “There will be a time and place for that,” he said.He also wouldn`t detail the advice he was given by investor Warren Buffet. “We usually visit every year. Warren is a friend,”â€˜ Rodriguez said.A-Rod struggled in the playoffs again this year as the Yankees lost to Cleveland in the first round. He went 4-for-15 (.267) with one RBI against the Indians, leaving him in an 8-for-59 (.136) postseason funk dating to 2004 and hitless in his past 18 playoff at-bats with runners in scoring position.He ended 2006 by being dropped to eighth in the batting order for the Yankees` final postseason loss to Detroit.A-Rod earned a $1.5 million bonus for winning the award, which completes the contract he opted out of last month. A-Rod earned $185.45 million over seven years in that deal, including bonuses, an average of $26.49 million annually.After opting out of the final three seasons of that record contract, which had guaranteed him $252 million over 10 seasons, A-Rod restarted talks with the Yankees. That came after a turbulent two weeks in which the Yankees said they wouldn`t negotiate with him anymore, and then he approached the team without agent Scott Boras and negotiated his return through an investment banker.It was the 20th time a Yankees player has won the award.